Thursday, January 4

How Long till Lenny?

Whether it's today or a week from now, Bob Hill is going to be fired. Despite repeated denials, Sonics vice-chairman (?) Lenny Wilkens (who happens to have the most wins in NBA history and coached the beloved '79 champs) is likely to replace him.

As much as I love Lenny, I will miss Hill. He's a throwback to the angry, profanity-spewing, beer-swilling coaches of old, like Doug Moe and George Karl. And those kind of coaches don't cut it in the NBA anymore.

Will Lenny the Legend make a difference? Probably not.

For better or worse, authority figures today are largely ignored or mocked by anyone under 30. And unless you're a living legend like Pat Riley, it's near impossible to motivate young players by yelling at them. That's probably a good thing, but a makes for a damn boring coach.

A new coach might light a fire under these Sleepy Sonics, and hiring Lenny or even assistant coach Jack Sikma would a be a nice touch for the 40th Anniversary, but whether it makes any difference down the road will remain to be seen.

10 comments:

Firing Weiss & hiring Hill didn't light any fires, why would repeating it do any different? No one can light a fire under the asses of this bunch. We need to dump Collison, Wilcox, Greeky, Farmer, Swifty & Lewis and keep Ray, Earl, Petro/Sene(servicable backups), Wilkins and Fortson (good practice fodder). Luke can stick around for one more year on probation. No pouting allowed.

I agree - firing Hill is a bad move in my mind. If easy-going Weiss and hard-ass Hill weren't the solution, doesn't that make it seem like the problem isn't the coach, but the roster? Injuries have hurt this team, to be sure, but I truly believe that the team as constructed wasn't capable of winning more than 40 games. If that's the case, then what exactly are we doing here? As I've said many times, this is as good as Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are going to get. If those two - playing at their peak abilities - are unable to get a team to win more than 40 games, and the remaining group of 10 aren't able to help them, then the whole situation needs to be blown up.

Take a look at the top-tier big men in this league, and they were acquired either through free agency or at the top end of the draft. The Sonics have three choices:

1. Shed salary to clear room to go after someone in free agency2. Play Gelabale, Petro, Sene, etc. in an attempt to develop their skills and, at the same time, force their record to plummet and better our chance at Greg Oden.3. Make inconsequential roster moves or coaching staff changes.

Unfortunately, Memphis, Philly and Charlotte seem to have the Oden Sweepstakes wrapped up, which means it's either #1 or #3 for the Supes right now.

Spot on with the #3 guess. My feeling is that the new ownership group won't do anything major (#1 or #2) until they know whether they can start prepping for the move to OK or not. Once they they know where the team will be for the long term, then they'll start some major reworking.

I can't believe some of you guys say Lenny isn't gonna make a difference. Have you forgotten two seasons ago? You know... when we went to the Playoffs and gave the Spurs hell? What major change did the team go through the following season? Oh that's right. We got a new head coach. Then shit hit the fan. Then we got another head coach. Then shit still kept hitting the fan...

Lenny is going to make a HUGE difference. Is he gonna make Seattle a championship team like he once did? Hell no. This team isn't deep enough and doesn't remotely resemble a team other teams would be afraid of. It's not gonna get any better quickly. But Lenny IS better than Weiss and Hill combined. He's proven it.